MUSIC IN A TRAILER

Eleanor Binley

Music in a trailer helps to capture the emotion and sometimes sets the scene of what the movie is

about. Here are a few examples to help explain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0fq5dd0C60

Music within the trailer:

The opening of the trailer uses a calm non diegetic soundtrack of a guitar during the shots of the male character along. Once the females character is introduced the dialogue between the two characters begin. The volume of the music decreases and after this point the music picks up in volume and pace as we transition through the various shots of the male and female characters relationship. We can hear a change in the narrative as it develops further getting more intense and reaching its climax, the pace of the sound starts to increase and the pace of the piano becomes more intense to match the action within the movie trailer. There is no direct dialogue at this point during the trailer however voiceovers are used of the two characters as they speak to each other in forms of letters they send to one another. As an audience we are able to listen the conversations of the two lovers as they are kept separate due to the male character being in the army.

Music within the trailer continued…The two characters reuniting in the later shots sees the music almost reaching its climax as the narrative is growing more intense and it appears that the two may never see each other again. After the white symbolic flash the soundtrack over the trailer is now of a song type and we know this because we can hear vocals which relates back to the genre of the trailer. The meaningful and sad tone of the music suggests there may not be the happy ending that we would expect of a romance film but the calmness of the music leaves the audience in suspense of the ending of the movie making them want to watch more. The music in this trailer fades out softly and the narrative ends as we hear the last voiceover of the female character and the piano playing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPYMUnJGURI

Music within the trailer:

The overlapping of sounds at the beginning of the trailer creates tension for the audience as they are anxious to find out what that particular sound is, an ambient sound of the engine of the train can be heard and physically seen. The technique is a physical convention used in horror film trailers in order to create tension and build fear within the audience watching the trailer. Sound is of huge importance in horror trailers as its used to draw on the anticipation of something bad or that something bad is about to happen and adds tension of those watching it. In this trailer a non diegetic sound of a nursery song is played to build up the disruption creating a tense atmosphere before the music turns to a more serious down beat rhythm that fits with what is going on in the narrative after the disruption has began.

Music within the trailer continued…In particular parts of the trailer where the scenes are cut through either an action or motivated cut, the non diegetic sound stops for a few seconds before speeding up again making the audience jump or panic as they watch this scene. This is again typical of horror film trailers to have this jumpy aspect to them. The sound of a child's voice is also used in the trailer which enforce the scary and eerie atmosphere created as we can hear the voice but not see the child. The use of children's voices and nursery like music is a stereotypical convention of horror film trailers.